SHARPE'S LONDON MAGAZINE: A JOURNAL OF ENTERTAINMENT AND INSTRUCTION FOR GENERAL READING. With Elegant Engravings. JULY TO OCTOBER 1848. LONDON: ARTHUR HALL & CO. 25, PATERNOSTER ROW. M DCCCXLVIII. PREFACE. IN launching our SEVENTH VOLUME upon the troubled and unfathomable ocean of public opinion, we must not omit our usual custom of saying a few words concerning the cargo of the good ship "SHARPE," the results of her last trip, and her prospects in the voyage she is now about to undertake. Through the liberality of our spirited owner, the Captain has under his command as ready and efficient a crew as can be found, not only in any vessel of the same size and tonnage, but which we defy many of twice our bulk to rival. We have on board one or two Great Guns, that have already made a noise in the world, while others, whose good report has not been heard so widely, are yet calculated to make a deep impression, and well worth their powder and shot. The cargo we have just landed has been of a rich and varied nature; strange novelties from the gorgeous East, antiquities from the Holy Land, curiosities of savage life from New Zealand, have mingled with the most carefully selected specimens of British talent and industry. That our last trip has been on the whole a successful one, may be attributed to the fact that the public is always ready to encourage those who, with a good object in view, are zealous in the prosecution of it. In regard to the voyage now before us-but stay; in treating of a matter so important as the future of SHARPE'S LONDON MAGAZINE, it behoves us to drop metaphor, and write in the clearest and most unmistakeable language at our command. In the forthcoming volume, then, will be commenced a New Tale by the Editor; The Story of a Family will be continued; and Harry Sumner's Revenge, and the Diary of an Oxford Man concluded; great attention will be paid to the style and selection of the Reviews, and first-rate talent employed on them. It is hoped that this new and important feature in the Magazine will continue as popular as it has already proved to be, and tend very considerably to the increase of the circulation. We have determined, in compliance with the wishes of the subscribers, not to make the proposed alteration in the size of the volume, and shall therefore continue to issue three volumes annually, each consisting of four monthly parts. In conclusion, we must beg our friends, and all who consider this publication a good and useful one, not to relax their efforts in our behalf, but to endeavour, when an opportunity occurs, to gain for us new subscribers. We would particularly urge members of Book Societies to introduce SHARPE'S MAGAZINE into the club to which they belong; and with a hint that there is no better time for doing so than the beginning of a new Volume, we make our bow. |